"Boom!" Lock landed steadily on the ground.
He looked up to see dozens of Pure Titans charging at him simultaneously.
Lock gave a confident smile as hardening covered his fists, elbows, shins, and the nape of his neck.
He spread his arms and shouted, "Come on! You poor idiots, let me send you all to 'Paradise'!"
Lock collided violently with the dozens of Titans all by himself!
...Levi watched this scene through the white mist, knowing he had to support the kid immediately.
He held Zeke down with one hand and his blade, while using the other hand to pull a signal gun from his waist.
Just as Levi was about to fire, he suddenly sensed something was wrong!
A terrifying, massive mouth burst through the smoke screen from behind, snapping at him viciously!
Levi instantly leaped to the side to dodge.
The Cart Titan's massive jaws snatched Zeke, and it quickly turned to flee.
"Hey! Stop, where do you think you're going?" Levi stood there, staring blankly for a moment.
Zeke's voice, a mixture of arrogance and pain, drifted back: "That was brutal, Levi. We'll call it a draw this time... next time, you won't be so lucky."
"Bang!"
A shadow fell from the sky, forcing the Cart Titan to brake suddenly as a Pure Titan crashed down right in front of it.
From a distance, Lock, who was surrounded by the swarm of Titans, waved his hand and called out, "Yo, Sister Pieck! It's been five years, your little sister missed you very much!"
Lock grabbed a Titan next to him and hurled it toward them with all his might.
"Away you go!"
"You should stay and catch up!"
Zeke gritted his teeth and said, "Retreat for now, ignore that madman."
These Pure Titans were already following Zeke's orders; Lock throwing Titans at them wouldn't stall them for long.
Instead, Zeke ordered them to block Levi behind them.
After killing the few Titans Lock had thrown, Levi also realized that continuing the pursuit of Zeke on flat ground was no longer possible.
Levi glanced at Lock, who was clearly struggling in the middle of the Titan swarm. After firing a signal flare into the sky, he chose to turn back and support him.
By the time Erwin arrived with the Recruits, Lock and Levi were already finishing off the last few Titans.
Levi walked over to Erwin, leaving Lock to handle the final two alone.
"Erwin, those two intelligent Titans managed to escape."
Erwin comforted him, "Good work, you both did very well."
"Levi, once you've replenished your gas and blades, hurry over to support Hange and Eren."
Erwin looked in the direction Zeke and Pieck had fled. "Those two might be heading there for a surprise attack."
After mounting the horse Marlo brought over, Levi asked, "How is it going over there?"
Erwin said calmly, "I checked from the top of the wall. The Colossal Titan and Armored Titan have been dealt with, but it's unclear how many of our people survived or if they still have any fighting capacity."
Levi knew the situation was urgent and left no room for rest. "Then I'm off. As for that kid Lock..."
Erwin said directly, "Don't worry, he's on our side."
"Yeah, I think so too. We'll interrogate him properly once we're back."
With that, Levi headed straight for Wall Maria.
On the other side, Lock was covered in wounds and exhausted, but his spirit remained high.
"Take this! Double Peak Piercing the Ears!
"Old Ape Hanging the Seal!"
"Ground-Breaking Heaven-Piercing Cannon!"
...Lock frantically pummeled the two sandbags in front of him.
Finally, feeling bored, Lock executed them with hand-blade strikes.
Lock emerged from the nape of the kneeling Female Titan and jumped to the ground.
Erwin walked slowly toward him.
Looking at Erwin, Lock felt a sense of guilt.
He was about to apologize when he saw Erwin give him a sincere smile:
"Thank you."
Lock was taken aback, then scratched his head and said sheepishly, "I hope the Commander can say a few good words for my father to The Corps when we get back."
"Just so he can retire in peace."
After a moment of silence, Erwin nodded. "I will."
...Soon, Lock also mounted a horse and returned to Wall Maria.
When he reached the gate, Lock discovered that the inner gate had been blocked by Eren's hardening.
He wondered how Eren and the others were doing; they should all still be alive.
He hoped they were all alive... Erwin left the Recruits behind to clean up the battlefield and search for survivors.
And, of course, to continue guarding the horses.
After giving his instructions, Erwin had Lock follow him over Wall Maria using the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear... "Bang!"
A red signal flare caught their attention.
Following the signal, Erwin and Lock reached the roof of a building where they found Levi, Eren, and Mikasa.
Lying nearby was Bertholdt, who had been reduced to a human stump.
There was also a "corpse" burned to a crisp.
"Commander!" Eren shouted.
Erwin looked at the scene and said, "Explain the situation."
Eren immediately pointed to the charred body beside him and said with a sob, "Commander! Armin is still alive! Please, let him use the Titan Injection as soon as possible!"
"Erwin, the Beast Titan, and that four-legged freak escaped."
Levi pulled the box of serum from his coat and said, "If you have no objections, I'm going to use this on Armin."
Eren was full of anxiety: "Please, hurry! Armin won't last much longer!"
Erwin said, "Use it. Armin has proven his value to The Corps many times; we cannot afford to lose him."
Eren and Mikasa were instantly overjoyed.
Lock, however, looked at the motionless Bertholdt, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
Most of these emotions came from Annie's memories.
Erwin ordered, "Everyone, move back!"
Except for Levi, everyone retreated ten meters to avoid drawing Armin's attention.
At that moment, Hange, Jean, and Connie arrived, with Connie carrying Sasha on his back.
Hange saw Erwin and cried out excitedly, "Erwin! Thank... thank goodness you're alive!"
"When I saw that four-legged crawling Titan earlier, I thought you... sob."
Erwin looked at Hange's bandaged eye and asked, "Hange, where are the others?"
Hange's exaggerated emotions vanished, replaced by gloom. "They all died in the explosion caused by the Colossal Titan's transformation."
Lock was checking the unconscious Sasha's injuries. Hearing this, he immediately turned and asked, "Then Mr. Moblit..."
"He's dead too." Hange's voice was heavy with unspeakable sorrow. "Moblit died to save me."
Lock fell silent.
Then he whispered, "It's my fault."
While Hange was puzzled by Lock's random remark, she suddenly noticed a detail.
"Boom!"
The commotion of Armin's transformation drew everyone's gaze.
Everyone watched as a Titan resembling Armin crawled toward Bertholdt, who was lying on the roof.
A startled Bertholdt found himself being grabbed by a Titan.
He screamed in terror, and then he saw the group of people watching nearby.
Those familiar faces seemed like a lifeline to him, and he immediately cried out for help, "Everyone, please save me!"
Seeing that they made no move, Bertholdt suddenly realized he was no longer a Soldier.
As he was stuffed into the Titan's mouth, he desperately cried out Reiner's and Annie's names.
"Thump!"
The dust had finally settled.
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